Ball point fountain pen



F. E. GRUBER BALL POINT FOUNTAIN PEN Aug. 2s, 1951 Filed April 19, 1947 MAW/N lllllllllllllllllllllllllll Illlll Snventor FRANCIS E. GRUBER Bg f2:

dttorneg Patented Aug. 28, 1951 BALL'POINT FOUNTAIN PEN Francis E. Gruber, St. Paul, Minn., assignor to Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn.

Application April 19, 1947, Serial No. 742,634

My invention relates to an improvement in ball point fountain pens Where the ink reservoir is adapted to be held locked in the writing tip, yet

where the reservoir is movable forward and back to expose and conceal the writing ball.

A feature resides in providing a ball point pen reservoir which is made as a unit and which mair be removably held in the writing tip so that a new reservoir may be substituted when a new supply of ink is desired.

A primary feature resides in providing a locking collar which is threaded to the inner end of the writing unitand which operates to either release the ink reservoir unit when it is desired to remove the same from the writing tip, or the collar acts as a shoulder working against a xed shoulder on the ink reservoir to limit the backward movement of the ink reservoir when the writing point of the pen or ink unit is drawn back into the writing tip to protect the same.

My pen is designed to use a ball point for writing, and the casing of the pen is constructed so that it may be taken apart by a longitudinal pull on the writing tip, thus separating the writing tip and the ink reservoir unit from the rear portion of the casing of the pen. The writing tip unit with the ink reservoir is held in the casing by a frictional spring locking collar which engages within the forward end of the rear end of the casing.

In the drawings forming part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the barrel of Ythe pen showing the ink unit reservoir partially in section.

Figure 2 illustrates an enlarged View of the writing tip with the ink reservoir as they appear when removed from the rear portion of the casing.

Figure 3 illustrates the Writing tip of the pen with the ink reservoir removed therefrom.

Figure 4 illustrates an enlarged View of the ink reservoir removed from the writing tip.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 in Figure 1.

The ball point writing pen A is formed with a writing tip I0 which is formed conical on its forward end and out of which the writing end of the ink reservoir B projects so as to expose the writing ball II.

The writing tip I0 is provided with a sleeve I2 which carries a split spring locking sleeve I3. 'Ihe spring I3 operates freely between the shoulders I4 and I5. When the unit I0 is pushed into the rear portion of the casing I6, the spring sleeve I3 will contract and engage in the casing I6 and 7 Claims. (Cl. 1Z0-42.03)

2 thereby held the unit Ill with the ink reservoir B in the casing, as illustrated in Figure 1.

The ink unit B is formed by a hollow tube which contains the writing ink. The hollow tube I'I is formed with threads I8 which act to retard the free flow of the ink used within the reservoir B and which threads on the forward end of the unit B are adapted to engage the threaded portion I9 formed within the writing tip Ill, as illustrated in Figure 1.

A knurled sleeve 20 which is formed with a thread 2| on its end is adapted to limit the threading movement of the reservoir B on the thread I9 when the reservoir B is moved in a backward direction to draw the ball point I I into the writing tip III, thus to conceal the writing ball II when it is not desired for use. The threads 2| of the sleeve 20 engage the inner threads 22 formed within the sleeve I2, as illustrated in Figure l.

The ink reservoir unit B is provided with a .xed shoulder in the form of a sleeve or similar shoulder means such as 23 which is pressed onto the reservoir B. The shoulder 23 engages against the inner threaded end 2l of the sleeve 20 when the ink unit B is moved in a backward direction by rotating the writing end I0 of the pen A.

The ink reservoir unit B is provided with a plug end 24 which closes the rear end of the tube I'I of the reservoir and which, however, is formed with the axial openings 25 and 26 to provide an air inlet into the tube I1 of the reservoir and thus permit atmospheric pressure to vary within the tube Near the rear end of the reservoir B and adjacent to the plug 25, I provide a porous filler plug 21 which assists in holding the ink within the reservoir B and prevents it from working out of the openings 25 and 26. Yet, the porous ller 21 permits atmospheric air to enter into the ink unit B and thus permits the ball I I to draw the ink out of the reservoir B when the pen is in use and the ball is caused to write on a surface. The capillary action of the ink toward the ball II assistsy the pen A in writing. f

The ink reservoir B is held against rotation by the longitudinally extending key 28 which fits into either one of the slots 29 formed in the end 24.

The key 28 is formed by a sleeve 30 which is anchored in the rear end of the casing I6.

Thus, it will be apparent when the ink reservoir B is locked in the writing tip I0 by the knurled collar 29 and the threads I8 are in engagement with the threads I9 upon the rotation of the tip I0, the threads I9 will cause the threads I8 to propel and retract the ink unit B in accordance with the direction of rotation of the writing tip l0. The forward movement of the ink unit B to expose the writing ball il will be restricted by the shoulder 3l which engages against the shoulder 32 formed on the forwardend of the writingr unit B. The backward movement of the ink unit B in the casing of the pen A will be retarded by the lock collar or sleeve 2U which engages against the fixed sleeve 23 to restrict the backward movement of the ink unit B when the tip [El is rotated to draw the ink unit within the casing of the pen A. In other words, one direction of rotation ofthe tip il) will propel the Writing ball il out of the conical end of the writing tip'. It; whereas, the other rotation of the writing tip will draw the writing ball l l into a position within-the conical end of the writing tip lll to conceal the ball and place it out of Writing position.

Provision for a new writing unit B may become readily providedatany time in the pen stock A, by. pulling thewriting tip lll with the unit B out. off therear end of the casing i9 andthen unlockings' the collar 29 by unsecuring the same from the threads 22 and unscrewing the unit B from the threads i9. The construction is simple, effective and permits replacementl ofY the ink unit whenever desired, as well as provides a simple means-,of propelling and' retractingY the ink.V unit within the casing so as to hold the ball out o writing position.

I claim:

1. Aball-point pen having a casing, a threaded removable ink reservoir'having a writing ball on the forward end'thereof, the forward end of saidl casinghaving a conical writing end and being separable from the rear portion of said casing, a spring. collar for holding said forward end in the rear.` end` of said casing under spring tension, thread formed in said forward conical endof said. casing adaptedto engage the threads formed in said-removable ink reservoir, a longitudinal key formed in the rear end of said casing and adapted toengage in a slot formedin the rear endiof said ink; reservoir to* hold saidY ink reservoir against turning, an annular shoulder formedronsaid ink reservoir,` a shoulder formed.. in said casing for limiting` the forward movement" ofV said ink reservoir; and a removable shoulder engaging inthe forward endof said casing to` limit the rearward, movementl of said ink reservoir, said` ink reservoir being adaptedA to be moved longitudinally insaidcasing by rotating the forwardconi.- cal end of said casing.

2. Aball point writing pen including av removable ink reservoir, threads formediin the body of said reservoir, a casing for enclosing said reservoir having aA removable forward conical end, a spring colla-r for holdingsaid forward end of said casing inthe rear end of said casing, thread means formed in said forward end of said casing for engaging the threads formed in said reservoir, a fixeds shoulder formed on said reservoir, means inY said casing for holding said reservoir against rctation, whereby when the forwardr end of said casing is rotated, the thread means therein will cause said threaded reservoir to move longitudinally in` said casing to expose or conceal the writing end of said reservoir, shoulder means for engaging said-shoulder on said reservoir to limit the forward movement of said reservoir, and a detachable shoulder collar carried by the inner TIL end of said forward portion of said casing which is adapted to limit the rearward movement of said reservoir and also to permit the removal of said ink reservoir from the forward end of said casing.

3. A removable ink reservoir for fountain pens including a body portion formed of tubular material having a thread extending in said body practically from end to end thereof, an annular shoulder fixed on said body, a writing ball mounted in the forward end of saidbody, a collar freely rotatable on said reservoir having a threaded end, a plug adapted to be positioned in the,v rear end' of said body, an annular shoulder formed on the rear end of said reservoir, and

Alongitudinal keyways formed in said annular shoulder, adapted to engage lug means in a pen casing.,

4. A removable ink reservoir for fountain pens having a writing end formed on the forward end thereof, an annular rear-end shoulder having longitudinal keyways formed therein adapted to engage lug means in a pen casing, a shoulder formed on said reservoir adaptedto limit the forward movementV of said reservoir in the casing enclosing thereservoir, a threaded collar mounted freely rotatable on said reservoir adapted to limit the backward movement of said reservoir in the pen casing bybeing threadedly engaged to a casing.

5. A fountain pen including a casing, an ink reservoir removably-supported withinthe casing, a shoulder formed on said ink reservoir to limit theforward` and back-ward movement of said reservoir in saidv casing, a slidable locking collar carried on said reservoir` which limits the backward movement of said reservoir, whereby when said collar is unlocked from the casing, a new reservoir may` be placed'in said casing.

6. Al writing pen comprising1 atubular hollow casing divided between its ends, aspring` locking colla-r-carried-byv one of said ends of said casing adapted toengagefin-theotherend of said divided casing to slidably hold said portions of said casing togetherfa-nd a removable ink cartridge havinga locking collar adapted to secure said ink reservoirin one of the portions of said` divided casing. l

7. An ink reservoir for a writing pen comprising a hollow tube member, a writing end formed on said tube member, a shoulder formed on said tube member, and a slidable threaded collar mounted on said tube member.

FRANCISv E. GRUBER.

REFERENCES CITEDA The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED' STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 188,721 Somers Mar. 30, 1877 1,437,180 Hill Nov. 28, 1922 1,493,178 Wright May 6, 1924 1,585,843 Fitch May 25, 1926 1,729,165 Fischer Sept. 24, 1929 2,274,311v Wehn Feb. 24, 1942 2,397,229 Biro Mar. 26, 1946 2,400,679 Eire May 21, 1946 2,426,453 Huenengardt Aug. 26, 1947 2,427,243 Wahl Sept. 9, 1947 

